ul listed panel shop

what does it take to be a "ul listed panel shop" (time, money, education, ongoing fees, ect....). any info would be greatly appreciated.

bwiring said:

what does it take to be a "ul listed panel shop" (time, money, education, ongoing fees, ect....). any info would be greatly appreciated.

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All of the above. Seriously, you pretty much stated all that is involved in becoming and maintaining a UL panel shop. My first exposure was to attend a 1-day seminar. I would recommend you do that.

Check out this link. http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/powerandcontrols/industrialcontrolpanels/

At the bottom of the page is a link to their workshops. If you are planning to become a UL shop they will sometimes waive the cost of the workshop.

First of all you cannot become a "listed" panel shop.
Listing means that the complete machine and its control panel have passed numerous tests by a UL testing facility. After approval ANY change however small generally requires complete re-testing and re-certification. This approach is both expensive and time consuming BUT is normally used for consumer end-use products. Toasters, electric drills etc. Look on their labels and they will [should!!!] have a "UL" mark.

For panel builders the program you need to enroll in is UL508A.
This provides a set of rules and guidelines as to how panels/enclosures are to be built, wired,labeled etc.

Providing you meet and maintain these requirements you can apply a UL508A Label to the finished product.
This program is self policing with 4 unannounced visits from your local UL representative to check you are complying with the standard. A yearly subscription is required

I don't recall exactly how much the program costs.
Just go to UL website and get info.

BITS N BYTES said:

First of all you cannot become a "listed" panel shop.

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Actually that is exactly what UL calls it. If you go to the link I provided in my previous post you will see in bold at the top of the page "Become a UL Listed Panel Shop". However we don't typically refer to our shop in this way. We usually just say UL panel shop.

Does anyone have any cost info? Are we talking $10K to setup plus $3K per year or $XX per panel, or what???

Kent Hostetler said:

Does anyone have any cost info? Are we talking $10K to setup plus $3K per year or $XX per panel, or what???

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I don't have exact numbers but you are probably looking at about $1200 to $1500 yearly fee plus an additional $400 to $500 per quarter. This is based on what we have paid in the past.

I believe 4.5K to start which includes one of the UL instructors coming out to your site and giving an 8 hour presentation on the UL508A rules and regulations as well as some pointers.
This also includes a binder (thick one) with the UL508A articles and such as well as one in PDF format if you are lucky.
4 inspections / year, a fee for each that also covers the "good standing" for the year.
each new panel has to be inspected and approved for a fee.
If it is a one of, then it is what it is.
If it is one of xxx no additional visits/inspections needed and you get a supply of 1000 stikcers registered to one person that you use for each of the xxx panels.
Each xxx panel gets a sticker and the sticker number is documented in your log book .
Each sticker number has to match a serial number of the panel that belongs to.
Any alterations/changes from the original design/approval will need to be re-inspected and re-approved.
If you are a panel shop and do panels xxx of xxx it is worth the effort and money.
One ofs don't.
Better off having your customer pay an additional fee to cover the cost of the UL inspection approval for the panel or tag it on the bill.

bkottaras said:

This also includes a binder (thick one) with the UL508A articles and such as well as one in PDF format if you are lucky.

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If you have a file number then you should get a subscription to the standards library and have access to all of the standards as well as being able to sign up for e-mail alerts for specific standards. Then you can get notified when there are new proposals published or a bulletin gets issued for a standard.

If you are interested, shoot me a PM and I'll give you the guy's info who does the certification training. He handles pretty much everywhere in the midwest.